Category Archives: Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding and Weight Loss

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With the arrival of the New Year many of us make resolutions about improving our health by eating better. As a breastfeeding mom, you may be wondering if it’s possible to eat well and safely lose weight while still caring for your baby.

Weight loss immediately after birth is quite dramatic. Birthing a baby, placenta and fluids can result in the immediate loss of 12 pounds or more. In the weeks and months that follow, however, your “baby weight” will come off more slowly. The good news is, most breastfeeding mothers lose weight easily, without depriving themselves of anything! In fact, many mothers find they have to eat more than they ever did before and STILL they lose weight. Those baby pounds come off like magic!

Since breastfeeding is such a great calorie burner, you may be tempted to eat a less than ideal diet. But just as in pregnancy, keep in mind you are eating for two! Continue reading →

Breastfeeding Through the Holidays

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Relaxing with Baby

Back in the day, before I was an IBCLC, I spent hours on the phone as a La Leche League Leader, listening to and trying to help breastfeeding mothers. My co-leaders and I were very active with 2 well-attended group meetings per month. It was not unusual for me to talk on the phone with several mothers each day of the week. After a year or 2 of this work, I began to notice a trend. During major holidays, almost all of the calls were about plugged ducts, mastitis and milk supply.

I discussed this with more experienced leaders. “Yep,” they agreed, “those breastfeeding problems happen more during major life events—especially holidays!” It was such a recognizable phenomenon, we were able to predict the types of calls we could expect based on the time of year. Toward the end of November, we started preparing for the flood of plugged ducts and mastitis calls. Continue reading →

IUDs, Hormonal Birth Control and Milk Supply-Updated December, 2021

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Cross cradleAbout 6 weeks to 2 months postpartum, your health care provider will bring up the subject of birth control. Even though sex may be the farthest thing from your mind! Your doctor has your mental and physical health in mind when he talks to you about a birth control method. It can be devastating emotionally and physically to get pregnant again before you are ready.

There are many birth control methods that are compatible with breastfeeding and have absolutely zero risk of harming milk production. Condoms and other barrier methods are safe and effective when used appropriately. But these methods are considered “risky” to many doctors because they rely on patient compliance and errors can occur. More and more doctors, therefore, are encouraging new mothers to use an IUD for birth control.

There are some relatively new IUDs on the market, that can create problems for breastfeeding individuals. The Mirena., Skiyla, Liletta and Kyleena all contain small amounts of synthetic progesterone. Progesterone is the hormone that keeps you from lactating during pregnancy. It follows that progesterone, even a small amount, could cause a reduction in milk supply for a breastfeeding mother. Continue reading →

Guest Post–When Nursing Makes you Sick

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When a woman thinks of birth and breastfeeding she expects it to be the happiest time of her life. Occasionally, to a mother’s dismay, she finds that breastfeeding brings on new challenges, feelings and experiences. She may experience feelings of pain with breastfeeding, or an unexplainable twist in her gut when her milk lets down. Unable to justify or validate what she is feeling leaves her at a loss and feeling confused. These feelings may be the result of a condition known as D-MER. D-MER stands for Dysmorphic Milk Ejection Reflex and it is treatable.

D-MER is caused by a drop in dopamine activity when oxytocin rises which creates a feeling of dysphoria in the mother (D-Mer.org). It is a physiological disorder, not a mental disorder. To understand D-MER better I have interviewed Renee Beebe, IBCLC. Renee Beebe is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who works with mothers who may be exhibiting symptoms of D-MER.

A mother asked Renee the following questions:

Continue reading →

Tongue Tie: More than “Just” a Breastfeeding Problem

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Tongue-tied newborn

Tongue-tied newborn

Let’s assume for a moment that breastfeeding is not important. That the oral development that breastfeeding provides is inconsequential. We will ignore, for just a moment, the fact that the act of breastfeeding helps develop the baby’s jaw, his facial muscles and properly shapes the palate to make room for his future teeth. We’ll ignore all of that so that I can give you a few other reasons to agree to have your baby’s frenulum clipped. Just in case the possibility of pain free, effective breastfeeding is not a good enough reason for you.

The reason I’m being just a bit sarcastic is because there are plenty of health care professionals out there who do not “believe in” freeing a tongue tied baby’s tongue “just” so he can breastfeed. “After all,” they say, “..you can just feed your baby pumped milk or formula from a bottle.” Continue reading →